Milwaukee is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan at the confluence of the Milwaukee, Menomonee, and Kinnickinnic Rivers. Milwaukee is the 31st-most populous city in the United States and the fifth-most populous city in the Midwest, with a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census. The Milwaukee metropolitan area has over 1.57 million residents and ranks as the 40th-largest metropolitan area in the nation. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County.
Present-day Milwaukee was inhabited by various Algonquian peoples. Following the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, European settlers established the city as a hub for trade and industry by capitalizing on its location as a port. Milwaukee was incorporated in 1846. The city attracted immigrants from Germany and elsewhere in Europe, and Milwaukee remains a center of German American culture. In the late-19th and 20th centuries, Milwaukee became known as a national leader in beer production led by the Miller, Pabst, and Schlitz breweries. The city also became known for its strong labor movement.
Milwaukee is an ethnically and culturally diverse city, though it continues to be one of the most racially segregated cities in the U.S. as a result of early-20th century redlining. Its regional GDP was over $130 billion in 2023. The city is home to Fortune 500 companies Northwestern Mutual, Fiserv, ManpowerGroup, Rockwell Automation, and WEC Energy Group. Its cultural institutions include the Harley-Davidson Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee Public Museum, and Summerfest, one of the world's largest music festivals. It is home to several institutions of higher education, including Marquette University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. The city's major professional sports teams are the Milwaukee Brewers (MLB) and Milwaukee Bucks (NBA).
History
Name
The etymological origin of the name Milwaukee is disputed. Wisconsin academic Virgil J. Vogel has said, "the name [...] Milwaukee is not difficult to explain, yet there are a number of conflicting claims made concerning it."
One theory says it comes from the Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe word , meaning "good land", or words in closely related languages that mean the same. These included Menominee and Potawatomi.
The name of the future city was spelled in many ways prior to 1844. People living west of the Milwaukee River preferred the modern-day spelling, while those east of the river often called it Milwaukie. before migrating to the Milwaukee area at about the time of European contact.
In the second half of the 18th century, the Native Americans living near Milwaukee played a role in all the major European wars on the American continent. During the French and Indian War, a group of "Ojibwas and Pottawattamies from the far [Lake] Michigan" (i.e., the area from Milwaukee to Green Bay) joined the French-Canadian Daniel Liénard de Beaujeu at the Battle of the Monongahela. In the American Revolutionary War, the Native Americans around Milwaukee were some of the few groups to ally with the rebel Continentals.
After the American Revolutionary War, the Native Americans fought the United States in the Northwest Indian War as part of the Council of Three Fires. During the War of 1812, they held a council in Milwaukee in June 1812, which resulted in their decision to attack Chicago in retaliation against American expansion. This resulted in the Battle of Fort Dearborn on August 15, 1812, the only known armed conflict in Chicago. This battle convinced the American government to remove these groups of Native Americans from their indigenous land. After being attacked in the Black Hawk War in 1832, the Native Americans in Milwaukee signed the 1833 Treaty of Chicago with the United States. In exchange for ceding their lands in the area, they were to receive monetary payments and lands west of the Mississippi in Indian Territory.
European settlement
thumb|left|Statue of [[Solomon Juneau, who helped establish the city of Milwaukee]]
Europeans arrived in the Milwaukee area before the 1833 Treaty of Chicago. French missionaries and traders first passed through the area in the late 17th and 18th centuries. Alexis Laframboise, coming from Michilimackinac (now in Michigan), settled a trading post in 1785 and is considered the first resident of European descent in the Milwaukee region.
One story on the origin of Milwaukee's name says,
The spelling "Milwaukie" lives on in Milwaukie, Oregon, named after the Wisconsin city in 1847, before the current spelling was universally accepted.
Milwaukee has three "founding fathers": Solomon Juneau, Byron Kilbourn, and George H. Walker. Solomon Juneau was the first of the three to come to the area, in 1818. He founded a town called Juneau's Side, or Juneautown, that began attracting more settlers. In competition with Juneau, Byron Kilbourn established Kilbourntown west of the Milwaukee River. He ensured the roads running toward the river did not join with those on the east side. This accounts for the large number of angled bridges that still exist in Milwaukee today. Further, Kilbourn distributed maps of the area which only showed Kilbourntown, implying Juneautown did not exist or the river's east side was uninhabited and thus undesirable. The third prominent developer was George H. Walker. He claimed land to the south of the Milwaukee River, along with Juneautown, where he built a log house in 1834. This area grew and became known as Walker's Point.
The first large wave of settlement to the areas that would later become Milwaukee County and the City of Milwaukee began in 1835, following removal of the tribes in the Council of Three Fires. Early that year it became known that Juneau and Kilbourn intended to lay out competing town-sites. By the year's end both had purchased their lands from the government and made their first sales. There were perhaps 100 new settlers in this year, mostly from New England and other Eastern states. On September 17, 1835, the first election was held in Milwaukee; the number of votes cast was 39.
By 1840, the three towns had grown, along with their rivalries. There were intense battles between the towns, mainly Juneautown and Kilbourntown, which culminated with the Milwaukee Bridge War of 1845. Following the Bridge War, on January 31, 1846, the towns were combined to incorporate as the City of Milwaukee, and elected Solomon Juneau as Milwaukee's first mayor.
Growth and immigration
thumb|Illustrated map of Milwaukee in 1872
Milwaukee began to grow as a city as high numbers of immigrants, mainly German, made their way to Wisconsin during the 1840s and 1850s. Scholars classify German immigration to the United States in three major waves, and Wisconsin received a significant number of immigrants from all three. The first wave from 1845 to 1855 consisted mainly of people from Southwestern Germany, the second wave from 1865 to 1873 concerned primarily Northwestern Germany, while the third wave from 1880 to 1893 came from Northeastern Germany. By 1900, 34 percent of Milwaukee's population was of German background.
Most German immigrants came to Wisconsin in search of inexpensive farmland. After 1848, hopes for a united Germany had failed, and revolutionary and radical Germans, known as the "Forty-Eighters", immigrated to the U.S. to avoid imprisonment and persecution by German authorities. In 1865 the Academy of Music opened in Milwaukee.
One of the most famous "liberal revolutionaries" of 1848 was Carl Schurz. He later explained in 1854 why he came to Milwaukee,
<blockquote>"It is true, similar things [cultural events and societies] were done in other cities where the Forty-eighters had congregated. But so far as I know, nowhere did their influence so quickly impress itself upon the whole social atmosphere as in 'German Athens of America' as Milwaukee was called at the time."</blockquote>
thumb|left|Milwaukee's [[Lake Front Depot in 1898]]
Schurz was referring to the various clubs and societies Germans developed in Milwaukee. The American Turners established its own Normal College for teachers of physical education and the German-English Academy. Milwaukee's German element is still strongly present; the city celebrates its German culture by annually hosting a German Fest in July and an Oktoberfest in October. Milwaukee boasts a number of German restaurants, as well as a traditional German beer hall. A German language immersion school is offered for children in grades K–5.
Although the German presence in Milwaukee after the Civil War remained strong and their largest wave of immigrants had yet to land, other groups also made their way to the city. Foremost among these were Polish immigrants. Because Milwaukee offered the Polish immigrants an abundance of low-paying entry-level jobs, it became home to one of the largest Polish-American communities. For many residents, Milwaukee's South Side is synonymous with the Polish community. Milwaukee County's Polish population of 30,000 in 1890 rose to 100,000 by 1915. St. Stanislaus Catholic Church and the surrounding neighborhood was the center of Polish life in Milwaukee. As the Polish community surrounding St. Stanislaus continued to grow, Mitchell Street became known as the "Polish Grand Avenue". As Mitchell Street grew more dense, the Polish population started moving south to the Lincoln Village neighborhood, home to the Basilica of St. Josaphat and Kosciuszko Park. Other Polish communities started on the East Side of Milwaukee. Jones Island was a major commercial fishing center settled mostly by Kashubians and other Poles from around the Baltic Sea. Milwaukee has the fifth-largest Polish population in the U.S. at 45,467, ranking behind New York City (211,203), Chicago (165,784), Los Angeles (60,316) and Philadelphia (52,648). The city holds Polish Fest, an annual celebration of Polish culture and cuisine.
thumb|Wisconsin Street and the [[Pabst Building in the early 20th century]]
In addition to the Germans and Poles, Milwaukee received a large influx of other European immigrants from Lithuania, Italy, Ireland, France, Russia, Bohemia, and Sweden, who included Jews, Lutherans, and Catholics. Italian Americans total 16,992 in the city, but in Milwaukee County, they number at 38,286. By 1910, Milwaukee shared the distinction with New York City of having the largest percentage of foreign-born residents in the United States. In 1910, European descendants ("Whites") represented 99.7% of the city's total population of 373,857. Milwaukee has a strong Greek Orthodox Community, many of whom attend the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church on Milwaukee's northwest side, designed by Wisconsin-born architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Milwaukee has a sizable Croatian population, with Croatian churches and their own historic and successful soccer club The Croatian Eagles at Croatian Park in Franklin, Wisconsin.
Milwaukee also has a large Serbian population, who have developed Serbian restaurants, a Serbian K–8 School, and Serbian churches, along with an American Serb Hall. The American Serb Hall in Milwaukee is known for its Friday fish fries and popular events. Many U.S. presidents have visited Milwaukee's Serb Hall in the past. The Bosnian population is growing in Milwaukee as well due to late-20th-century immigration after the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
During this time, a small community of African Americans migrated from the South in the Great Migration. They settled near each other, forming a community that came to be known as Bronzeville. As industry boomed, more migrants came, and African-American influence grew in Milwaukee.
In 1892, Whitefish Bay, South Milwaukee, and Wauwatosa were incorporated. They were followed by Cudahy (1895), North Milwaukee (1897) and East Milwaukee, later known as Shorewood, in 1900. In the early 20th century, West Allis (1902), and West Milwaukee (1906) were added, which completed the first generation of "inner-ring" suburbs.
20th century to present
thumb|left|A [[slum area of Milwaukee from 1936]]
During the first sixty years of the 20th century, Milwaukee was the major city in which the Socialist Party of America earned the highest votes. Milwaukee elected three mayors who ran on the ticket of the Socialist Party: Emil Seidel (1910–1912), Daniel Hoan (1916–1940), and Frank Zeidler (1948–1960), with Victor L. Berger elected as the first socialist congressman in 1910. Often referred to as "Sewer Socialists", the Milwaukee Socialists were characterized by their practical approach to government and labor. On October 14, 1912, former president Theodore Roosevelt, who ran for a third term under his progressive, Bull Moose Party, survived an assassination attempt by salonkeeper John Fleming Shrank, while making a speech at the Gilpatrick Hotel. On November 24, 1917, Milwaukee was the site of a terrorist explosion when a large black powder bomb exploded at the central police station at Oneida and Broadway. Nine members of the department were killed in the blast, along with a female civilian, Catherine Walker. It was suspected at the time that the bomb had been placed outside the church by anarchists, particularly the Galleanist faction led by adherents of Luigi Galleani. At the time, the bombing was the most fatal single event in national law enforcement history.
In the 1920s, Chicago gangster activity came north to Milwaukee during the Prohibition era. Al Capone, noted Chicago mobster, owned a home in the Milwaukee suburb Brookfield, where moonshine was made. The house still stands on a street named after Capone.
By 1925, around 9,000 Mexicans lived in Milwaukee, but the Great Depression forced many of them to move back south. In the 1950s, the Hispanic community was beginning to emerge. They arrived for jobs, filling positions in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. During this time there were labor shortages due to the immigration laws that had reduced immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe. Additionally, strikes contributed to the labor shortages.
In the mid-20th century, African Americans from Chicago moved to the North side of Milwaukee. Milwaukee has attracted a population of Russians and other Eastern Europeans who began migrating in the early 1900s and the 1980s. Many Hispanics of mostly Puerto Rican and Mexican heritage live on the south side of Milwaukee. In the 1930s the city was severely segregated via redlining. In 1960, African-American residents made up 15 percent of Milwaukee's population, yet the city was still among the most segregated of that time. As of 2019, at least three out of four black residents in Milwaukee would have to move to create racially integrated neighborhoods. By the late 1960s, Milwaukee's population had started to decline as people moved to suburbs, aided by ease of highways and offering the advantages of less crime, new housing, and lower taxation. Milwaukee had a population of 594,833 by 2010, while the population of the overall metropolitan area increased. Given its large immigrant population and historic neighborhoods, Milwaukee avoided the severe declines of some of its fellow "Rust Belt" cities.
In 1993, Milwaukee experienced a massive outbreak of Cryptosporidium protozoan in much of the water supply, affecting more than 400,000 residents, and eroding public trust in the public water supply for nearly a decade.
Since the 1980s, the city has begun to make strides in improving its economy, neighborhoods, and image, resulting in the revitalization of neighborhoods such as the Historic Third Ward, Lincoln Village, the East Side, and more recently Walker's Point and Bay View, along with attracting new businesses to its downtown area. These efforts have substantially slowed the population decline and have stabilized many parts of Milwaukee. Largely through its efforts to preserve its history, Milwaukee was named one of the "Dozen Distinctive Destinations" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2006. Historic Milwaukee walking tours provide a guided tour of Milwaukee's historic districts, including topics on Milwaukee's architectural heritage, its glass skywalk system, and the Milwaukee Riverwalk.
In the 2010s and 2020s, Milwaukee underwent several development projects, including the opening of the Bradley Symphony Center. The Hop streetcar system began operation in 2018, and the Fiserv Forum opened the same year.
The city was hit by widespread flash flooding on August 9–10, 2025, after the second-most recorded rain over a two-day period in the city's history.
thumb|center|upright=3.55|Panorama map of Milwaukee, with a view of the [[Milwaukee City Hall|City Hall tower, ]]
Geography
thumb|Looking south from Milwaukee's Lower East Side, including Yankee Hill, Juneau Town, and downtown
Milwaukee lies along the shores and bluffs of Lake Michigan at the confluence of three rivers: the Menomonee, the Kinnickinnic, and the Milwaukee. Smaller rivers, such as the Root River and Lincoln Creek, also flow through the city.
Milwaukee's terrain is sculpted by the glacier path and includes steep bluffs along Lake Michigan that begin approximately one mile (1.6 km) north of downtown. In addition, west of Milwaukee is the Kettle Moraine and lake country that provides an industrial landscape combined with inland lakes.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. The city is overwhelmingly (99.89% of its area) in Milwaukee County, but there are two tiny unpopulated portions that extend into neighboring counties.